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Since the 1973 publication of Storey's first Country Wisdom Bulletin, our commitment to preserving the arts, crafts, and skills of country life has never wavered. We now have more than 200 titles in this series of 32-page publications, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life. Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins contain practical, hands-on instructions designed to help you master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. From traditional skills to the newest techniques, Storey's Bulletins provide a foundation of earth-friendly information for the way you want to live today.
Price:
3.95 USD

Anyone who wants to learn basic living skills the kind employed by our forefathers and adapt them for a better life in the twenty-first century need look no further than this eminently useful, full-color guide. Countless readers have turned to Back to Basics for inspiration and instruction, escaping to an era before power saws and fast food restaurants and rediscovering the pleasures and challenges of a healthier, greener, and more self-sufficient lifestyle. Now newly updated, the hundreds of projects, step-by-step sequences, photographs, charts, and illustrations in Back to Basics will help you dye your own wool with plant pigments, graft trees, raise chickens, craft a hutch table with hand tools, and make treats such as blueberry peach jam and cheddar cheese. The truly ambitious will find instructions on how to build a log cabin or an adobe brick homestead. More than just practical advice, this is also a book for dreamers even if you live in a city apartment you will find your imagination sparked, and there's no reason why you can't, for example, make a loom and weave a rag rug. Complete with tips for old-fashioned fun (square dancing calls, homemade toys, and kayaking tips), this may be the most thorough book on voluntary simplicity available.
Price:
24.95 USD

This lavishly illustrated guide contains everything the beginner needs to know about creating useable compost--described in clear, step-by-step detail that eliminates all of the guesswork that too often creeps into how-to books. Experts share their knowledge of the proper tools and techniques the novice needs to compost successfully in rural, suburban, or urban settings. Traditional bin systems and an unconventional approach using worms are explained fully. Includes a fascinating look at the science behind the composting process, as well as clear instructions for building a variety of composting bins for the backyard.
Price:
16.95 USD

Rural homesteaders and urban apartment dwellers alike will find a mother lode of practical information packed into this completely revised and updated edition of the ultimate how-to handbook for all generations. The Big Book of Self-Reliant Living brings together in one single volume a wealth of knowledge and useful instruction on just about every imaginable aspect of self-sufficiency - from building a dwelling to getting more milage out of a car.
Price:
24.95 USD

Since the 1973 publication of Storey's first Country Wisdom Bulletin, our commitment to preserving the arts, crafts, and skills of country life has never wavered. We now have more than 200 titles in this series of 32-page publications, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life. Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins contain practical, hands-on instructions designed to help you master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. From traditional skills to the newest techniques, Storey's Bulletins provide a foundation of earth-friendly information for the way you want to live today.
Price:
3.95 USD

Since the 1973 publication of Storey's first Country Wisdom Bulletin, our commitment to preserving the arts, crafts, and skills of country life has never wavered. We now have more than 200 titles in this series of 32-page publications, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life. Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins contain practical, hands-on instructions designed to help you master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. From traditional skills to the newest techniques, Storey's Bulletins provide a foundation of earth-friendly information for the way you want to live today.
Price:
3.95 USD

Since the 1973 publication of Storey's first Country Wisdom Bulletin, our commitment to preserving the arts, crafts, and skills of country life has never wavered. We now have more than 200 titles in this series of 32-page publications, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life. Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins contain practical, hands-on instructions designed to help you master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. From traditional skills to the newest techniques, Storey's Bulletins provide a foundation of earth-friendly information for the way you want to live today.
Price:
3.95 USD

Since the 1973 publication of Storey's first Country Wisdom Bulletin, our commitment to preserving the arts, crafts, and skills of country life has never wavered. We now have more than 200 titles in this series of 32-page publications, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life. Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins contain practical, hands-on instructions designed to help you master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. From traditional skills to the newest techniques, Storey's Bulletins provide a foundation of earth-friendly information for the way you want to live today.
Price:
3.95 USD

Since the 1973 publication of Storey's first Country Wisdom Bulletin, our commitment to preserving the arts, crafts, and skills of country life has never wavered. We now have more than 200 titles in this series of 32-page publications, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life. Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins contain practical, hands-on instructions designed to help you master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. From traditional skills to the newest techniques, Storey's Bulletins provide a foundation of earth-friendly information for the way you want to live today.
Price:
3.95 USD

Carla Emery's in-depth knowledge comes from her years spent with farmers and homesteaders who truly lived off the land. Equipped with the knowledge of when to harvest, how to harvest, and what supplies are needed, anyone can learn what it means to create authentic, old-fashioned recipes in this age of grocery-store dependence. Organized by food categories, this book features a wealth of recipes, each preceded by a discussion of our changing motivation as food consumers along with detailed explanations of the processes behind canning and preserving. From drying to pickling to freezing, Emery's preserving methods are as broad in scope as the recipes themselves. Do-it-yourselfers can welcome summer's arrival with chunky peach jam and oven-dried tomatoes, or host a fall harvest with fresh herb bouquets and smoked chicken. Step-by-step instructions, charts, and informational sidebars make the process easy and enjoyable.
Price:
16.95 USD

Just like houses, chicken coops come in all sizes and styles to meet the needs of every chicken family. Here are how-to drawings and conceptual plans for 45 coops from strictly practical to flights of fancy guaranteed to meet the needs of every chicken owner. A 16-page color section shows detailed photos of many of the featured coops.
Price:
19.95 USD

A chicken tractor is a portable pen that fits over your garden beds! Just set it wherever you need help in your garden. The chickens peck and scratch the soil to clean your beds, eat pest bugs and weed seeds, and fertilize the beds with their manure. Best of all, they provide eggs and meat with that old-fashioned flavor and homegrown goodness. This incredibly popular hands-on book is a grass-roots best seller. It has helped thousands of folks have better gardens and has rekindled an interest in the backyard flocks and heritage breeds of poultry. It has literally, changed the lives of millions of chickens all over the world by taking them out of factory farms, and putting in the gardens where they are happier, more productive and healthier.
Price:
22.95 USD

With this book, A. D. Livingston combines a lifetime of Southern culinary knowledge with his own love of authentic home smoking and curing techniques. He teaches how to prepare smoked and salted hams, fish, jerky, and game - adapting today's materials to yesterday's traditional methods. As the author writes, 'you can smoke a better fish than you can buy, and you can cure a better ham without the use of any chemicals except ordinary salt and good hardwood smoke.' This book shows you how, and includes complete instructions for: preparing salted, dried fish; preparing planked fish, or gravlax; building a modern walk-in smokehouse; constructing small-scale barbecue smokers; choosing woods and fuels for smoking; and salt-curing country ham and other meats, together with over 50 recipes such as Country Ham with Redeye Gravy, Canadian Bacon, Scandinavian Salt Fish, Venison Jerky, and many others. (5 1/2 X 8 1/4, 168 pages, diagrams)
Price:
14.95 USD

The setting might be a sparkling lakefront, a cool clearing in the woods, a breathtaking mountaintop, or an expansive beach, but the dream of a modest retreat from everyday life often includes a simple little cabin. In cabin getaways of the imagination, the cares of the world recede, time slows down, and the day’s pace is set by leisure and quiet activities. Compact Cabins presents 62 design interpretations of the getaway dream, with something to please every taste. Best of all, these small footprint designs are affordable and energy efficient without skimping on comfort and style. The cabins range in size from a cozy 100 square feet to a more spacious but still economical 1,000 square feet, and all include sleeping accommodations, kitchen and bath facilities, and a heat source. Complete chapters on low-maintenance building materials, utilities and appliances, and alternative energy sources supply readers with the options for living efficiently in small spaces. For every design, readers will find floor plans with detailed suggestions for designing the space for optimal use. These plans are flexible; many feature modular elements that can be mixed and matched to accommodate a particular owner’s needs or hobbies. Features such as an outdoor fireplace, covered porch, or external storage locker might work nicely in several cabin designs. It’s all about enhancing and maximizing small spaces to suit individual needs and preferences. Build small. In this time of uncertain energy costs, global warming, and tighter budgets, building small is a theme that resonates with second-home owners. Gerald Rowan shows readers how to achieve their cabin dreams on a small footprint.
Price:
19.95 USD

Do you have your feet planted in the city but find yourself living more and more like you are in the country? Authors Nick and Anita Evangelista didn't know it then, but with the planting of a garden and the raising of a few chickens and rabbits and goats at their house (a mere 10 minutes from downtown Los Angeles) they'd taken their first steps on a journey that would lead them to a fixer farm in the Missouri Ozarks. In this, their latest book on the logistics of making the move from city to country life, the Evangelistas tell their own story and give you their honest appraisal of what kind of "stuff" it takes to make that move to the country, along with a liberal dose of laughs. You'll find out what kind of preparation and mind set it really takes to make that plunge from city to country. You'll discover how to keep going when everything around you seems to conspire to tell you this move was a huge mistake. Nick and Anita will give you invaluable advice about purchasing and care of livestock when you are a raw recruit and new to country life. This book shows you the underpinnings of living in the country, along with a rain dance and the requisite Elvis story thrown in just to make sure all the bases are covered. This is the book that tells you how it happened for them. It can happen for you, too. If you think country living may be the life for you, get this book today, because Country Living Is Risky Business. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 228 pages
Price:
16.95 USD

Whatâ€™s the difference between a weanling and a yearling, or a farrow and a barrow? Country and city mice alike will delight in Julia Rothmanâ€™s charming illustrated guide to the curious parts and pieces of rural living. Dissecting everything from tractors and pigs to fences, hay bales, crop rotation patterns, and farm tools, Rothman gives a richly entertaining tour of the quirky details of country life. From the shapes of squash varieties to the parts of a goat; from how a barn is constructed to what makes up a beehive, every corner of the barnyard is uncovered. A perfect gift for gardeners, locavores, homesteaders, and country-living enthusiasts alike.
Price:
16.95 USD

Since the 1973 publication of Storey's first Country Wisdom Bulletin, our commitment to preserving the arts, crafts, and skills of country life has never wavered. We now have more than 200 titles in this series of 32-page publications, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life. Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins contain practical, hands-on instructions designed to help you master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. From traditional skills to the newest techniques, Storey's Bulletins provide a foundation of earth-friendly information for the way you want to live today.
Price:
3.95 USD

First published in 1872 for homesteaders migrating west from the settled eastern part of the United States, this practical guide to the construction of a variety of homes from wood, earth, and gravel, as well as outbuildings, gates, a cellar, furniture, and many other necessary implements of self-sufficient rural life, is as down-to-earth today as it was when it first appeared. The quaint language of the original title page reads, Practical Hints for Handy-Men Showing Clearly How to Plan and Construct Dwellings in the Bush, on the Prairie, or Elsewhere, Cheaply and Well, With Wood, Earth, Gravel. Copiously Illustrated. Well put! A delightful, historic guide that withstands the test of time.
Price:
12.95 USD

The classic guide to building cabins and houses from scratch. First published in 1872, this timeless work is packed with handy advice and useful tips that show the best ways to plan and construct dwellings in any location using wood, earth, and gravel. Includes no-nonsense instructions for building: Log cabins, Fence posts, Slab houses, Gates, Farm houses, Furniture, Cellars. Originally written for those fanning out from eastern cities to homestead, The Homestead Builder, Second Edition is a fascinating historical record that is sure to appeal to anyone interested in Americana or inclined toward self-sufficiency.
Price:
12.95 USD

Who doesn't want to shrink their carbon footprint, save money, and eat homegrown food whenever possible? Even readers who are very much on the grid will embrace this large, fully-illustrated guide on the basics of living the good, clean life. It's written with country lovers in mind—even those who currently live in the city. Whether you live in the city, the suburbs, or even the wilderness, there is plenty you can do to improve your life from a green perspective. Got sunlight? Start container gardening. With a few plants, fresh tomatoes, which then become canned tomato sauce, are a real option. Reduce electricity use by eating dinner by candlelight (using homemade candles, of course). Learn to use rainwater to augment water supplies. Make your own soap and hand lotion. Consider keeping chickens for the eggs. From what to eat to supporting sustainable restaurants to avoiding dry cleaning, this book offers information on anything a homesteader needs—and more.
Price:
24.95 USD

If you put wood into a pipe and heat it, gas, tar and water vapor will be driven off. You can pipe this gas around into the fire that is heating the pipe. When the whole unit cools, you can extract high grade charcoal. And we're talking about charcoal noticeably superior to the grocery store variety you use on your grill. If you route the generated gas through a series of primitive, low cost, easily made filters, you end up with a fuel that will power a law mower engine. You can use that engine to generate electricity with an alternator to charge batteries. In other words, you can make electricity from wood! Buxton will show you how it's done. He'll show you the unit he built from common brick, a piece of well casing, old plastic buckets, heater hose, an old Chevy truck radiator, silicone adhesive and so on. His main goal was to melt metal. He had built a cupola but just didn't get the results he expected. He traced the problem down to the coke he was using. After he started using his homemade charcoal instead of coke, he started melting iron like crazy! You can do the same. The author lives in the Appalachians and has access to a lot of hardwood. You may want or need to consider making charcoal from hardwood scavenged from pallets. And last I heard, scrap pallets grow almost everywhere. Making charcoal is essential information for the foundryman. The homesteader and survivalists will find the idea of turning wood into electricity a valuable skill. You can generate gas from any old wood, not just hardwood, and in fact, I wonder if you could convert brush, leaves, maybe even grain to electricity. It's an idea to try. True, you're only generating small amounts of power, but it's enough to power lights, radios, refrigerators, etc like those used by campers. And if those dipstick terrorists disable the power grid in your part of the country for six weeks at a time, this machine might just save your sweet rear end! This is about a proven idea that needs to be taken to the next level by experimenters. And that means YOU. Get a copy of this heavily illustrated report on how he did it and the results he got. It's unusual and certainly worth having in these uncertain times. Order a copy! 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 softcover 63 pages.
Price:
9.95 USD